Lesson#19

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Leviticus

September 21, 2015

Introduction

May 13, 2010

Leviticus Lesson #02

May 13, 2010

RETURN TO THE LIST OF LESSONS

LEVITICUS 18
Lesson #19
GOD MAKES THE RULES

• Memory Verse: Eph 1:4

 

• The next three chapters of Leviticus apply various aspects of the Ten Commandments to daily life.
• Background:

• Some things we must remember:
  • The Law of Moses was given during a period of Law. It was given to the Jews.
  • The book of Leviticus is part of the Law of Moses.
• The Ten Commandments:
  • Exo 20:3-17 give us the Ten Commandments.
  • Before we discuss the application of the Ten Commandments, we must first gain an understanding of how the Ten Commandments relate to the New Testament believer in this age of grace.
  • Read Rom 2:14
    • The Law was given to the Jews and not to the Gentiles.
    • The Ten Commandments were one small part of the Law of Moses.
  • Read Mat 5:17-19
    • Jesus came to fulfill all of the law
    • Therefore, we don’t have to fulfill the exterior details of the Mosaic Law.
  • Read Rom 3:20 and Rom 5:13
    • God gave the Law to give man the knowledge of what was sin.
    • God did not hold man responsible for personal sin when he did not know what was right and what was wrong.
  • Read Jam 2:10
    • God gave the Law as a whole package that cannot be separated.
    • If you keep all the Law except one point, you are guilty of breaking all of the Law.
  • Read Mat 22:36-40 The first and second commandments that fulfill all the law.
    • In this New Testament age of grace we are not commanded to keep the Ten Commandments or another part of the Law.
    • Jesus tells us to love God and to love others. If we do that, we discover that love fulfills the Law.

• Read Lev 18:1-5
  • God’s people must live differently.
    • The Israelites must not live like the people of Egypt, in the fear of hundreds of pagan gods.
    • The Israelites must not live like the people of Cannon, with the worship of hundreds of pagan idols.
      • The believer must not be tied to the world’s values.
      • The believer must not be deceived by false gods.
  • The Israelites must keep the Law of God because they lived in a period of Law and because the Law was given specifically to them by God.
    • They were to live morally clean lives.
    • Because God is a Holy God.
  • The reason for the commandments:
    • God is the Creator.
    • God makes the rules.
      • Notice that in verses 2, 4, and 5 God says, “I am the Lord”.
      • God’s act of choosing gives Him the right to make the rules for His people.
  • Words that need definition: (4-5) All of the following words refer to the body of law given by God to Moses and called the Law of Moses.
    • Judgments = that part of the Law of Moses that related to social life. These are those things that God said about how to treat another person with justice and honesty.
    • Ordinances = that part of the Law of Moses that related to religious life. These are the things that God said about the tabernacle and the sacrifices.
    • Statutes = that part of the Law of Moses that related to God’s righteous will based on His moral character and commanded to His people. The Ten Commandments fall into this category.
• Read Lev 18:6
  • The levels of immorality regarding sexual sins mark the degree of decadence in a society. God says that sex must be kept holy.
  • Lev 18:6-18 deals with incest.
    • Incest is described in Lev 18:6-18 as an immoral relationship with any blood relative or with someone married to or related to a blood relative.
    • The sin of incest was common in Egypt where brothers and sisters in the royal family of Pharaoh’s married each other.
    • The sin of incest was common in Canaan with the pagan tribes that lived there.
    • In the New Testament, Paul dealt with a situation of incest in the Corinthian church. (1Cor 5:1)
    • God’s standard has not changed. Incest is a sin and forbidden by God.
      • Until the time of Moses and the giving of the Law, there was no prohibition of brothers and sisters intermarrying.
      • This is why Cain and Seth married their own sisters. There was no one else to marry.
      • Jacob had two wives that were sisters, Rachel and Leah.
        • After the Law of Moses was given to the Israelites, this relationship was considered incest. (17-18)
        • This rivalry between sisters caused a lot of family problems.
      • The law in verse 16 did not prevent a man marrying the wife of his brother if the first spouse was dead. This practice of levirate marriage was permitted by the Law of Moses. Verse 16 refers to illicit sexual relationships.
        • The word “levir” means = husband’s brother.
        • Levirate marriage was a common practice among Old Testament Jews to persevere the lineage of a family and the passing of an inheritance. It also perpetuated the strength of the 12 tribes of Israel so that a tribe would not disappear without an heir.
• Read Lev 18:20-23
  • The phrase, “uncover the nakedness” means = to have sexual relations with. (17)
  • God forbids adultery and fornication. (20)
    • Adultery is where one or both parties are married to another person.
      • Because the bond of marriage makes two people one flesh under God, the breaking of that bond is a destructive act to all persons.
    • Fornication means = any sexual sin outside of marriage.
  • Read Eph 4:17-19

 

• “…given themselves over unto lasciviousness…”

 

(19)
• Lasciviousness means = to excite lust or promote indulgence in lewd, lustful desires of a fleshly nature.
• God forbids religious prostitution and offering child sacrifice. (21)
  • All pagan religions in the Promised Land practiced this evil. The God Molech, a Canaanite god, demanded child sacrifice as well. (2Kin 17:31 Jer 7:31)
  • The true worship of God does not involve any sexual act of the body or child sacrifice.
    • Before this was a law, Judah practiced this sin of religious prostitution in Gen 38.
    • We worship God in spirit and truth. (Joh 4)
• God forbids homosexuality. (22)
  • Read 1The 4:5-7

 

• “…the lust of concupiscence…”

 

• Concupiscence means = to lust after irregular or unlawful desire of sexual pleasure.
• In the Old Testament with Sodom and Gomorrah, God judged homosexuality before He made it part of the Law of Moses. (Gen 13)
• In the Old Testament God judged it among the twelve tribes in Jdg 19:22-30.
• God restated the prohibition before Israel entered the Promised Land in Deu 23:17-18 where He called the male prostitute “a dog.”
• In the New Testament God tells us that homosexuality is rooted in idolatry in Rom 1:24-28.
• God forbids bestiality. (23)
  • This sin was also common with the Canaanites in the Promised Land.
  • This sin is practiced today though we don’t hear much about it.
• Read Lev 18:24-30
  • God told the Israelites to destroy the Canaanites because of these sins and God eventually wiped them off the face of the earth.
  • The fall of the glory of Egypt was because of immorality and idolatry.
  • The fall of Rome was because of immorality and corruption.
  • These nations were pagan nations that did not have a covenant with God, but God still removed them from positions of power and authority because of their immorality.

• Application:
  • There are certain basic laws that operate by truth in this universe. These laws are found in God’s Word and specifically in the Law of Moses (Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy).
    • For example we can all relate to the law of gravity.
    • When you break this law in rebellion by jumping off of a tall building, the consequences of that law forces itself on your body and you are smashed to death at the bottom of the building.
  • While the New Testament believer is not under the legal system of the Law of Moses, we are called to a higher standard than the Law of Moses dictated.
    • Read Mat 5:20-22
    • In other words, obeying the law and having inner holiness is not the same thing.
    • Instead of being controlled by the outward rules on stone, we are controlled by the inward presence of the Holy Spirit that speaks to us of an inner holiness.
    • Read Joh 16:8
  • We have seen in this lesson that there are basic spiritual laws that operate by God’s truth in this universe because God said them and He makes the rules.
    • There is a poem written by Rudyard Kipling that is very relevant to this chapter. It is called, The Gods of the Copy Book Headings
      • Explanation of the poem:
      • In schools the old style of teaching was to have students practice penmanship by copying some basic truth over and over again. They not only learned good penmanship but they learned the basic truths that were often taken from scripture. At the top of a child’s slate or page, the teacher wrote the basic truth that the child was to copy until he filled the page. These basic fundamental truths were called, “Copy Book Headings”
        • An example of these truths from the copy book headings in the poem are: Water will wet us. Another was Fire will burn us.
        • Another heading taken from scripture is: The wages of sin is death. (There are others from Scripture in the poem.)
      • In the poem there are two opposing groups of gods. One group is the gods of the copy book headings representing basic truths. The other group is the god’s of the world market place. The author follows man’s progress through history to show how man, to his detriment, has left the gods of the copy book headings to follow the false gods of the market place. The point in Kipling’s poem is that man continuously repeats the same historic mistakes because he continuously forgets the basic truths of God and His Word.
      • While Rudyard Kipling wrote the poem to warn people of the dangers of Fabian Socialism, the poem also shows us what happens through history when we leave behind the truths of God found in His Word.

The Gods of the Copy Book Headings

 

• 1

AS I PASS through my incarnations in every age and race,

• 2

I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place.
3Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
4And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.

• 5

We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn
6That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:

 

7

6But we found them lacking in Uplift, 8Vision and Breadth of Mind,
9So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.

• 10

We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,
11Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place,
12But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
13That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.

• 14

With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch,
15They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch;
16They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;
17So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.

• 18

When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
19They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
20But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
21And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “Stick to the Devil you know.”

• 22

On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life
23(Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)
24Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
25And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “The Wages of Sin is Death.”

• 26

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
27By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
28But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
29And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “If you don’t work you die.”

• 30

Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew
31And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
32That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four
33And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.

• 34

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man
35There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
36That the Dog RETURN s to his Vomit and the Sow RETURN s to her Mire,
37And the burnt Fool’s bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;

• 38

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
39When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
40As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
41The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter RETURN !

• Footnote explanations:

 

• 15

Stilton and Dutch are types of cheese sold in the market place.

• 18

Cambrian measures refers to a Geologic age 500 million years ago when evolution says that algae and marine invertebrates were the existing forms of life.

• 22

Feminian Sandstones refers to a type of sandstone sedimentary rock formed in a Geologic age.

• 26

The Carboniferous Epoch refers to a period of geologic time from 345 to 280 million years ago when according to evolutionary theory carbon and coal were produced in the earth.

HOMEWORK
Leviticus 19
This is a self-study. Please do not send homework answers to the teacher forcorrection.

• Application of Lev 18
  • If friends or members of your family are involved in any of these sins mentioned in Lev 18, pray for them that they would come to know God’s truth and submit to Jesus Christ who forgives us of all sin.

 

• If you are involved in any of these sins, repent and ask God to forgive you.
• Preparation for Lev 19
  • Read Lev 19:1-37
    • God gave the Israelites the Law in the Ten Commandments but they were weak in some areas that God had to remind them. Find the weaknesses of the Israelites in the following verses:
      • Vs. 1-4
      • Vs. 9-10
      • Vs. 11-13
      • Vs. 14
    • What do you think is the spiritual principle behind the strange law in verse 19?

 

• Memory Verse: Lev 19:2